Misunderstood
by ninahoechlin
Summary: As the new student Shalene Mason, starts to settle into Mystic Falls she starts to learn more about the small town's secrets and herself, some things she learns she may not be able to deal with.


**The Vampire Diaries does not belong to me and no money is being made off of this story. **

**Only saying that once.**

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_"We hold our breath as long as we can achieve, we close our eyes and hold our hands against our ears, we hear no sound."_

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When someone looks into a mirror, they're supposed to recognize themselves, they're supposed to know who they are and what they stand for. Yet, when Shaelene Mason looks into the mirror all she sees is madness, a girl who is completely lost and at war with herself.

As her fingers pull at the pale skin on her cheeks, she frowns at her reflection like something is missing. And, something is missing and she can't put her finger on it. The feel of lingering mystery could be that she was alone, she was without everyone she grew up with except for her parents. While she was starting a new life in America, every person she ever dared to care about was nearly four thousand miles away from her. While they laughed and cheered about the new school year approaching them in two hours time, she stood in front of the mirror wondering what went wrong and why it went so terribly wrong.

It took a half hour for her to finally realize that she wasn't going to solve her problems this morning and probably not the next morning either. Standing from the vanity seat, she looked around her almost empty but new room.

The walls were painted a pale gray color and the hardwood floors were a shining reflection of the ceiling. Her bed sat between the two large windows that over looked the small pond behind the house that her mother planned to fill with koi fish at some point in the month. The bright, morning sunrays trickled through the white curtains of the windows, highlighting some of the boxes that were labeled in black marker ink 'Shae's Room' and some random spots on the hardwood floor. The room brought an empty feeling to Shae's heart and stomach, but she just ignored it as she walked into the bathroom that connected to her room.

The white tiles of the bathroom walls combined with the sudden fluorescent lights of the bathroom, blinded the brunette momentarily and caused her to take a small step away from the threshold of the bathroom to let her eyes adjust. In a matter of seconds, you could call her eyes adjusted as she dragged her bare feet over to the shower and twisted the handle until it was all the way hot, or what she proposed was all the way hot for this shower.

Standing in front of the rectangular wall mirror that hung above her sink, Shae looked at herself with a blank face as she slowly began stepping out of her pajama shorts and stripping her upper body of one of her father's old t-shirts. Taking the hair tie from her unruly brown locks that had been tied up in a bun throughout the night, she turned to the shower almost robotically and stepped in, sliding the geometric shower curtain closed behind her.

She ignored the burning and tingling that the heat of the water brought to her skin, hoping that it would wash away all the sorrow and misery she was feeling for herself. She hoped that today would be a brighter day than her morning had been so far, she hoped that no one in this school would treat her like a walking monument because she had an English accent, she hoped that every peppy blonde girl steered clear of her, she just hoped that today would end up better than she predicted.

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As her mother practically rolled there car to the front entrance to the school, Shae looked on at the place in wonder and anger at the same time. She somewhat wanted to give this school a chance, but at the same time, she absolutely loathed it already because it wasn't home, it wasn't the school where everyone knew her and knew her habits. It wasn't the same for her.

"Do you think you'll be okay on your own?" Her mother's soft and caring voice called her attention from the building that swarmed with adolescents to look at her beautifully aged face. "Or would you like me to go in with you?"

"I'll be fine." Shae said before releasing a deep breath of air.

"Okay." Her mother said, pulling her daughter over the center console to her, she pressed a loving kiss to her daughter temple. "Love you."

"Love you too, mom." She said, giving her mother a tight hug and kissing her on her temple as well. She pulled away and gave her mother one last grin before opening her car door and stepping out.

As she walked the outlined path to the front doors, people that hung around the front of the school yard stared at her, giving her a little bit of anxiety and a little bit of a confidence boost. It was weird how the look of people could do that to a person, make you feel different things inside of your tummy. She gave a round of applause to the people that could turn dirty looks into a complete confidence boost.

"You must be Ms. Shaelene Mason." A man in a black, three-sizes-too-big suit jacket with a white button up shirt and the matching black pants, that weren't three-sizes-too-big came up to her with a wide smile on his chapped lips. His yellow stained teeth tried to offer her the most comforting smile they could manage, but all it did was creep her out. "How are you? I'm Principle Florence." He introduced himself, outstretching his hand.

"Please, Shae is just fine." She said, trying her best to sound polite and she actually did for once. "And I'm fine, how are you sir?" She asked and placed her hand delicately in his, afraid all of the hair on his hand might lunge at her and attack her at some point.

"Shae it is then." He said with a nod, his other hand coming to clasp over their joined ones, which only made her skin crawl further up her spine. Hopefully, he had sensed her uneasiness by now because he dropped their hands all at once. "Follow me to my office, we will talk about your scheduling."

With a nod of her head, the principal of the school turned on his fancy dress shoe heel and headed for the large, cement staircase that lead to the front doors of the school. In one long stride of her legs, Shae was soon walking in step with the principal, only talking to reply to his questions with very short answers. Somehow, she still managed to be polite. Maybe, it was her mother and father's words 'make a good impression and don't disappoint us' that had been scorned into her brain for the past summer finally applying themselves to real situations.

As the principal pushed open the small, wooden door to the main office, Shae twisted her head around her shoulders and observed the schools. It was somewhat like her other high-school, instead of the walls, floors and lockers all being different tones of neutral colors the floor tiles were a mix between a maroon color and a bright red, the lockers were painted with a gray finish that had plenty of experience in the wear and tear department. The walls were white, much like her high-school back in London, but there were red highlights painted on every wall. It must've been there school color.

"So, Shae, please tell me about all of the classes you were in at your high-school in London?" He asked as her pushed open another door which was identical to the one they had previously walked through, the only difference was that this door was labeled 'Principle's Office'. She assumed that this was his very own private office where he dealt with things like suspensions, expulsions, paper work and new student's, like her.

"Well," she began as she sat in the green cushioned chair on the student and or parent side of his desk "For an English I was in a creative writing class, math I was in statistics, I took a sociology class and I did not take a science."

As Principal Florence sat across from her at his desk, leaning back slightly into the black leather of his spinning office chair, he stared at the calendar covered surface off his desk looking down thoughtfully. "Here at Mystic Falls High-School, you need three years of a math, science, and social studies. You need four years of an English. Unfortunately, we do not have a sociology or anthropology department at our school and you will have to choose a science class and unless I can get your credits to match up with the requirements here." He explained to her. Great, science, dissecting frogs and learning about the male and female anatomy. "As far as social studies, the level we have for the eleventh grade is U.S History, but you can always go to economics."

"U.S History is just fine, sir." She said quickly and politely, a small and forceful smile grazing her lips. "For science, could I possibly just take a life science class?"

"Yes of course, you will be with mostly tenth graders though." He spoke as he took a pen from the square pencil holder and jotted something down about her schedule. Luckily, she could withstand a group of tenth graders for forty-five minutes everyday. "For a language, what did you take in London?"

"German." She said, hoping that she could take another year of German. Quite frankly, she spoke the language well and it helped that her grandmother was from Germany, the two had conversations in the language all of the time. "Is it possible I could take German here?"

"Yes, of course." He replied almost instantly, causing a shadow of an effortless grin to form on her lips. "The classes you'll be in are, creative writing, AP statistics, biology, U.S History, and German. Does that sound fitting?" Already knowing what AP meant, she nodded silently for him to continue. "Would you like to take a study hall or an extra curricular?"

"Study hall, please." Came her reply after a moment of thinking.

"Okay." He sighed, dropping his pen down he shed his too big of a suit jacket and left it on the back of the chair. "I will try to make up schedule with all of the classes you wanted, it make take sometime though, so please make yourself comfortable." With those departing words, Principal Florence stood from his chair and left the room, leaving Shae to make herself comfortable.

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Thirty minutes and a complete schedule later, Shae and Principal Florence were walking down the now empty hallway towards her second period class, since she had missed first, which was U.S History. She was somewhat excited for the class, she always found history intriguing, no matter where the history came from and she always found it to be easy just like math.

Principal Florence stopped at a red colored door that was maybe a shade darker than the flooring, there was a small column window in the door and that was it. From what she could see in the classroom, it was almost packed with students who looked like they hated their lives or could pass out any moment.

"Mr. Tanner is not the easiest teacher to get a long with, but hopefully, he'll leave you alone since it's your first year here." Oh joy.

After speaking these encouraging words, he took a key chain from his pocket with no more than five, shiny, silver keys on the ring. Using the dullest one of them all, he stuck it in the keyhole and jiggled it before opening the door. The teacher who was teaching stopped talking and all of the students straightened in their seats upon the principal's arrival.

"Good morning, students!" He said happily, and was rewarded with a collective voice of drowsy voices wishing him a good morning as well. He nodded his head to who Shae assumed was Mr. Tanner, a small smile on his face. "Today, we have a new student, her name is Shalene Mason. I hope you all treat her with the utmost respect and kindness." He spoke loudly, his voice booming from the walls and gaining all of the adolescents attention.

Shae gave the sea of students a small, awkward wave as her oceanic hues scanned the classroom for an empty desk, and one was found quickly in the back of the room between a boy and girl. She scurried to the seat like her life depended on it as Principal Florence began talking to Mr. Tanner, Shae hated to be the center of attention, it made her skin crawl. Placing her bag and books and the desk's surface, she slid into the seat silently, ignoring every pair of sixteen year old eyes that were glued to her like she was some circus attraction.

"Hi." The girl in front of her turned, a smile stretched out on her dark face. "I'm Bonnie."

"Shae, obviously." She said politely, a small grin eased onto her lips. The girl, Bonnie, smiled and turned around to face forward once again and that was the end of their conversation.

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After going to her locker and taking out all the books she needed for home and putting back all the books she didn't, Shae was walking out the front doors and into the bright sunlight that momentarily blinded her. As she walked down the steps, taking a two at a time to get out of their quicker, she scanned the curb and the parking lot for her father's Audi R8, which was found quickly on the curb.

"Hey, sweetheart." Her father's soothing voice echoed in the small car as she opened the door, causing her shoulder to relax somewhat. "How was your first day?"

As she slid in the seat, placing her bag and books on her lap, she spoke. "It wasn't terrible, but I still don't like living here."

"You shouldn't have such a negative spin on things, Shaelene. Things are going to get better and you're going to like it here, trust me." He father reassured, offering her a sympathetic smile as he started the car and drove away from the curb of the school.

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**So, how did you guys like the story. There will be more about Damon in the next chapter, this is just to get the ball rolling. But, there will only be a next chapter if you guys rate and review telling me to continue! **

**Shae was introduced to the class, unlike Stefan, because she is from London and didn't compel her way into the school. (:**

**thanks for reading!**


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